Shrunken cliche Rupert Murdoch’s empire of shit continues to stink, with his “rogue corporation” caught in yet another amoral activity — this time, managers of his Wall Street Journal have been caught inflating the paper’s European circulation by 41%. So the big corporations paying top dollar to reach the coveted 1% who supposedly read the WSJ while shopping in Paris or whatever were instead paying to have 31,000 daily copies bought for a nickel apiece and dumped. Worse, the paper printed a bunch of bogus endorsements and features on the shell companies involved in the criminal scheme.

The Guardian, which started digging around and today claimed the head of WSJ European publisher Andrew Langhoff, has loads of filthy details:

While these payments were being made, a whistleblower from the Journal in Europe contacted the management of Dow Jones in New York and alerted them to the circulation scam and to the controversial agreement to publish articles promoting ELP. Emails seen by the Guardian indicate that the whistleblower’s complaint was seen by New York executives, including Les Hinton – then the chief executive of Dow Jones and a close confidant of Rupert Murdoch. Hinton resigned in July in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal at the News of the World.

The emails show that the chief human resources officer for Dow Jones, Gregory Giangrande, organised a meeting in London on 14 December at which the whistleblower detailed his allegations to a Dow Jones lawyer from New York, Tom Maher, and Dow Jones’ European human resources executive Carol Bosack.

After the meeting, Bosack emailed the whistleblower: “You are expected to keep details and your reaction or beliefs about the recent events confidential and not shared with anyone external or internal to the business. This matter is to be kept between us, Andrew [Langhoff], Internal Audit and Corporate Legal.” No action was apparently taken at that time on the whistleblower’s allegations. The whistleblower, who had worked for Dow Jones for 9 years, was made redundant in January.

Fire the whistleblower. Common evil corporate behavior, right? #OccupyWallStreet needs to send a Division of a couple thousand protesters to occupy the WSJ/Fox/Murdoch complex and just shut that whole thing down, for the good of humanity.

And speaking of Murdoch’s tarnished, used-up stars, forgotten head case Glenn Beck is launching a clothing company, we guess to make Ye Olde Revolutionary MuMuus in size XXXXXXL. [Guardian]

BTW, the talk is that this stinks up to the Fatman himself, because somehow Christie refused to investigate this at one point as prosecutor.

News Corp looks more and more like a criminal enterprise everyday….

RadioOcupados

Capitalism is just the TPS cover sheet for criminal enterprise.

emmelemm

Damn. I need that on a bumper sticker. Good one.

bagofmice

Why concern yourself with ethics when there is profit to be taken?

http://wonkette.com/ FlownOver

I, for one, welcome our new Ferengi overlords.

Doktor Zoom

Inflated circulation claims? How can that be? I heard that every single one of Newt Gingrich's Twitter followers got a WSJ subscription.

Negropolis

Seriously, what's the address of Fox News? BTW, my blood sugar is probably low as hell at the moment, because most of that went totally over my head because I couldn't concentrate on the words.

mumbly_joe

1211 Avenue of the Americas 6th Avenue- it's right across from Rockefeller Center.

I… used to work right around there. At a trusts and estates law firm, no less. Something about being and underpaid temp at a firm whose job it is to help the super-rich keep as much of their money as possible that is soul-sapping to the point that the subsequent unemployment was rather a relief.

http://hong-kong-actresses.blogspot.com/ donner_froh

ELP alone were responsible for 16% of the Journal's European circulation, sponsoring 12,000 copies a day for which they were paying only 1¢ per copy.

Oh, the tragedy of it all! A hot summer night, graceless fumblings in the back seat of the Capital Coupe, Big Corporate Advertiser slides his hand up the WSJ's shirt, only to find the bra padded. Awk-ward!

http://hong-kong-actresses.blogspot.com/ donner_froh

From the article: "I'm pretty confident that what we did was in line with the law."

Pretty confident–what more could anyone ask for?

paris biltong

What is missing here (although clearly implied) is: "I don't have any facts to back it up but…"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/30500320@N06/ DerrickWildcat

They don't even speak American over there.

Troglodeity

Note to self: If I ever want to engage in a massive cover-up of criminal wrongdoing in a multi-billion dollar corporation, do not write a memo to a known whistleblower beginning with: "You are expected to keep the details confidential."

Chichikovovich

And then fire him, removing all leverage you might have to "incentivize" his silence.

Callyson

Hahahahaha, I just got a solicitation from the WSJ to subscribe. Yeah, give me the five cents a copy rate and then I'll consider it…

http://wonkette.com Ken Layne

I get them constantly. Just mail it back in the prepaid envelope with a "funny picture" inside.

Guppy06

Obviously the publishing and advertising industries needs more deregulation, if the laws interfere with capitalist innovation like this.

http://drinkiesinthe253.blogspot.com/ drrty_martini

And their taxes! So high! My heart breaks for them.

http://wonkette.com/ Sharkey

They had to bring Emerson Lake and Palmer into this? Really?

FakaktaSouth

They wanted ELO, but then Mike Edwards got crushed by that giant hay bale, so…

Amo_of_Bogio

Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends…

mourningnmerica

"No money could save them, so they lost circulation and died…"

Blueb4sunrise

…..and YOU get a WSJ, and YOU get a WSJ, and YOU get a WSJ……..

Guppy06

60 years from now, journalists/warbloggers will be vying for the Murdoch Award for Journalistic Ethics.

bagofmice

The Murdochs will be practically Pulitzer!

http://wonkette.com/ Sharkey

But … but … everyone said it was good when Murdoch bought the WSJ…

Chichikovovich

Well, it was. The WSJ (or at least the OP-Ed pages) was a vile, dishonest Neo-Bircher propaganda rag before the purchase, and Murdoch seems to have brought it to the tipping point along with his other enterprises. (The tipping point being: once you do something so disgusting that even politicians will bail on you (hack into and delete phone messages relevant to a missing person investigation) and do something where people actually get put under oath and have testimony compelled. Then watch the boat start springing more leaks every day.)

You might say that I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one.

BarackMyWorld

Learning that something closely associated with Wall Street is responsible for fraud is like finding out a Michael Bay movie sucks.

http://wonkette.com/ Sharkey

The silver lining is that Michael Bay isn't managing your investment and retirement accounts. He just makes shitty movies…

Oh wait.

Uhhhh….

ProgressiveInga

Wall Street Urinal.

Sparky_McGruff

A Glenn Beck clothing line? Can I get a polo shirt that goes well with gravy?

http://zvibleindmeis.tumblr.com/ Spurning Beer

The Glenn Beck fashion collection will be the official clothing label of the Occupy Walmart movement.

Medium? You need to order them in XXXL. Then keep eating baconnaise until they fit right.

SayItWithWookies

I certainly hope that we good US citizens don't prejudice our opinions of FOX News as a fair and balanced organization simply because many of their divisions in Europe have secretly manipulated law enforcement sources to wiretap victims of murder and terrorism and manipulate the market of a once-renowned-for-its-integrity American finance newspaper. There's certainly no evidence that this micromanaged sprawling monstrosity ever had a single unifying agenda — well, except for those incriminating emails talking abot the wiretaps.

But this shoudln't reflect on the integrity of the likes of Sean Assity, Bill O'Reilly, that freakish blonde hair-helmet lady or any of the other telemarketers-cum-news-personalities who read Roger Ailes' memos out loud every day. Those people who denounce President Obama's occasional association with Bill Ayers have not been influenced by the opinions of the organization that pays their salary. They rise above the relationships they condemn in others.

fartknocker

Meegh. This is Lou Sarah's Palin's express ticket into the Texas State Board of Education:

For some reason I'm reminded of Bob Dylan's lyric; "…for to live outside the law, you must be honest.." (from "Absolutely Sweet Marie"). The implication being that for those living within the law, honesty is optional. How true.

paris biltong

Where do you get the "for" from? Dylan would never be so tacky.

"Were fin'lly delivered down to the penitentiary
But to live outside the law, you must be honest
I know you always say that you agree."

Bezoar

Jeez, you're right, the vagaries of memory, I'm getting old, etc., but at least I got the spirit of it right, right?

http://wonkette.com/ Monsieur_Grumpe

I have two words for Mr. Murdoch, fish wrapper.

comrad_darkness

Yeah, not even good for that. BPA, the nasty plastic additive, the ink on newspapers is loaded with it.

Come here a minute

Poor Rupert Murdoch — how can one successful businessman get so unlucky to have all these unscrupulous lawbreakers on his staff?

Sounds like the WSJ needs to get all of Dame Peggy Noonington's Percocet dealers to subscribe.

comrad_darkness

This is why we need to get rid of these competing news outlets, so shit like this doesn't get revealed.

metamarcisf

How can I make Glenn Beck's new clothing company redundant?

http://wonkette.com/ FlownOver

Rub feces all over yourself, obvs.

http://facethesuncastnoshadow.wordpress.com/ Mumbletypeg

Snark all you want. This actually gives me a sad — as with acknowledging when something's gone from just pitiful to downright pathetic. Me being just oldz enough to remember when WSJ commanded some respect among news peddlers. Not to mention a kick-ass crossword puzzle.

OneYieldRegular

I wish it were harder to believe that the paper that employed Daniel Pearl could sink so low.

mourningnmerica

They dumbed down the crossword puzzle, too. It only has 9 squares now.

SorosBot

And this was revealed again by the Guardian; why isn't any of the US media and the Justice Department looking into his "news" empire's criminal dealings, just the Brits?

This must be why my personal ads in the European edition of the WSJ garnered only lukewarm response, mainly from the homeless.

proudgrampa

WSJ was one of the 7 dailies I used to read, before I went insane. Now I get all my news (and porn) from Wonkette!

fletc3her

Which makes the circulation department the most honest part of the operation.

paris biltong

The WSJ, your source for infomercials.

DaRooster

At least here one could never get away with lying to people as regularly as Murdoch does. That friggin' Europe… what a bunch of mouth-breathing numb-skulls… they will believe anything.

finallyhappy

Not really news in a way- I mean who wouldn't suspect them of lying?. Before Editor and Publisher went out of business, it used to show circulation for newspapers. The Examiner(a throwaway piece of Rightwing crap here in Metro DC) would show very large numbers- but you could see large piles of Examiners that had never been given out at any Metro station.

http://wonkette.com Ken Layne

It's paid vs. free distribution that's the key, for the ad dept. And the E&P figures mostly came from the ABC, which still exists in some form. http://www.accessabc.com/ WSJ has commanded high display rates specifically because it claimed to reach a specific number of the 1% who buy those tacky $10K watches and troll cars (Mercedes) as never-enough salve for the emptiness in their souls. You show that 31,000 alleged subscribers don't exist when you're only talking about 70K in Europe total, and the advertisers are now in control of the rate card. (Or, they just quit advertising altogether because it's a much better demographic with The Economist or you just buy the direct-mail lists from the big investment houses.)

Redhead

Is it sad that that my reaction to each of these details is, "yeah, what'd you expect, it's Murdoch/WSJ, not shocking?"

V572-⁂½‡‡‡‡‡

The real tragedy here is that all those expensive-watch advertisers didn't get the circulation of ads they paid for. You don't want to get Tag Heuer angry at you, Rupert. Everything you touch turns to shit — it can't be a coincidence.

HobbesEvilTwin

today we are all Bulova watches.

mourningnmerica

If I use the WSJ to wipe my ass, will I become a compulsive liar? I don't want that shit to seep into my bloodstream. I have been using USA Today, but there is so much colored print, I'm starting to wonder about the dyes.

hagajim

"Rupert Murdoch’s empire of shit"….that might be the best description I've seen to date.

Soylent Green

Mr. Murdoch, Tear Down This Wall Street!

ttommyunger

It's true, Glenn's first effort will be men's undershorts, sold under the Brand Name: "Gape".